


i built a friend

by LilacsAndLilies



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, Gen, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, I just waxed poetic about tony and his bots for a thousand words, Jarvis (Iron Man movies) is a Good Bro, No Dialogue, Pre-Iron Man 1, Prose Poem, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark-centric, because i have so many feelings about them, the death is only vaguely mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:02:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25529359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilacsAndLilies/pseuds/LilacsAndLilies
Summary: "Tony was 15 when he made his first bot."A story of Tony and how he built his own family.
Relationships: Butterfingers & Dummy & Jarvis & Tony Stark & You (Iron Man movies), Dummy (Iron Man movies) & Tony Stark, Friday & Tony Stark, Jarvis (Iron Man movies) & Tony Stark, Karen (Spider-Man: Homecoming) & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Tony Stark & Stark Robots, Tony Stark & You (Iron Man movies)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 72





	i built a friend

**Author's Note:**

  * For [angxlsgrxce](https://archiveofourown.org/users/angxlsgrxce/gifts).



**Tony was 15 when he made his first bot.**

It wasn’t actually his  _ first _ one, but it was the first that he kept. The first that wasn’t destroyed under Howard’s iron fist, the first one that passed the test and rewarded him with a reaction that wasn’t cold, unyielding disappointment. At first, it was just a machine, an object to update every single time he thought of something new. 

Code is finicky like that, it takes hours to fit the letters and symbols together into something, and hours more to make it feel safe and comfortable. There’s always more to optimize, always a shorter line, always a different algorithm. It felt like poetry to a boy who lived his life in between metal and numbers. But poetry has a habit of breathing life into everything it touches and it was the same for the hunk of metal he shaped into something more.  _ I think I’ll call him Dum-E. _

**Tony was 21 when he built U.**

It was the first time he was in the lab alone after actually processing that his parents were dead, that  _ Howard was dead _ . This was the first time he could create and build and grow without Howard’s evil eye poisoning every creation it touched, turning his passion and joy into heartless machines and pitiful attempts at earning a father’s love. Dum-E was in the corner and a smile subconsciously made its way across Tony’s face. He doesn’t smile much at anything anymore, at least, not in a way that’s  _ real _ . The only ones who get to see it are Jarvis and Rhodey and Dum-E. 

Somewhere along the line, he started to realize that family was what you made of it, and he started to put together the puzzle pieces, making his own image from the broken parts. Jarvis, Rhodey, and Dum-E. It was small, but it was his, and wasn’t it only fair that the first thing he makes, the first  _ untainted _ thing, be another member of the family Tony built for himself to replace the lack of a father’s love? 

This code has a lot more love poured into it, a lot more soul. He’s building himself a family all on his own, and even in a cold lab with nothing but machines, it feels like home. It feels like rebirth.

**Jarvis dies when Tony is 26.**

He had been playing around with AIs before, but it wasn’t until after the funeral that he really poured himself into it. Tony was never the type to grieve properly, and his work was the best way to avoid facing the fact that he lost a part of himself, that he lost a part of everything that tethered him to home and childhood. He grasped at straws and tried to stay grounded but he could feel himself drifting away.

The beauty of AIs is that there’s no body. No need to fashion a container out of metal scraps and flames. The mind is limitless instead, infinite, like Jarvis’s love. Tony struggles and works hard, but it’s all worth it when he hears the quiet  _ Hello Sir _ . Dum-E and U are like his children, but this AI feels like more, like a friend, like a companion, like a reminder of everything he lost. When Rhodey asks, amazement clear in his face, Tony says  it’s his name is J.A.R.V.I.S, for Just a Rather Very Intelligent System. The look Rhodey gives in response makes it very clear that he knows the real reason for the name. 

And with every moment that Tony spent with J.A.R.V.I.S, editing the code and updating and pouring more of himself into it, he began to heal. Grief became remembrance, became nostalgia, became redirected love. 

**Tony was 32 when more came.**

Tony was nothing if not a futurist, a careful planner for every possibility. J.A.R.V.I.S became a beacon of light, a symbol for the future, and with that, Tony built more. F.R.I.D.A.Y and J.O.K.A.S.T.A and T.A.D.A.S.H.I were fashioned from late nights and coffee-fueled bursts of creation. He kept them safely to the side. It was like a child whose potential was yet unrealized. They would have their moment, Tony could feel it. And he could tell they would be beautiful.

When J.A.R.V.I.S died, he laughed, bitterness seeping into his every bone. It was beautiful alright, beautiful in the way you can’t tear your eyes away from disaster, beautiful in how we could all sit and watch the world burn. F.R.I.D.A.Y got her moment, but it was hollowed out by loss and once again he was left to mourn Jarvis, alone. 

**Tony was 47 when he realized he was allowed more family than his machines.**

Tony knew somewhere deep inside, that he had Rhodey and Pepper and Happy and they were his family, but at the end of the day, alone in his lab, it always just felt like him and his bots. And that was ok with him. At least, it was ok with him until Peter Parker came around, swinging his way through the doors to Tony’s heart. He made an AI for the kid, something he never did for anyone else, and that should have been the first sign. He didn’t even name it, knowing that it would be Peter’s companion, Peter’s to choose. 

_ Karen _ . That’s what Peter calls her. Tony makes his jokes and fusses around about the name, but inside it feels like it fits. He stands in his penthouse and looks around to see his family, bots and AIs and humans alike. He built this all on his own, and it was beautiful.

The shortcuts to copies of code files on his laptop get deleted after a command to F.R.I.D.A.Y. He doesn’t need to build anymore. He has all he needs right here. 

**Tony was 53 when he died on a battlefield, surrounded by his family.**

The news had him wrong, he was never one to worry about a legacy. He would never make the same mistakes as his father. All he cared about was protecting the people he loved, protecting his  _ family _ . He had surrendered the code, stopped the constant building, except for one. One AI who could protect them all when he was gone. One who could take his place, keep his family together and  _ whole _ , because  _ goddamnit _ he had spent too long building this for himself to see it all blown away. E.D.I.T.H, he called her, choosing a snarky name to make them laugh, a few words to remind them that he cared, that he would never leave them without protection and safety. And when he put the last semicolon at the end of the line and he saved E.D.I.T.H onto the glasses, he smiled. His family was whole, and hopefully, it always would be. 


End file.
